The G5 has totally new architecture, 64-bit or not, from the ground up, with new faster motherboards, new faster RAM and new faster busses: it’s new and faster, and that will make a difference in our everyday editing. Besides, 8GB of RAM is going to run nearly $5,000. We don’t think this makes any difference for video editors today and we’re pretty happy with a couple of gigs of RAM.
The big marketing claim for Apple’s 64-bits is that it now allows you to use up to 8GB of RAM, whereas you could only use a paltry 2GB on a G4. While 64-bit may be the most exciting aspect of this machine, it may pragmatically be the least important feature in a box that is totally new. Still, the new hardware is here today and, for the Mac, it takes the form of the new G5. Notice we didn’t say “processing.” As of this writing, 64-bit applications are still few and far between. The most exciting development in desktop computing in a very long time is 64-bit processors.
